Harry R. Jackson, Jr.

Marriage is very important to me. Personally, it is a covenant that I made with my wife of over 35 years. It is a sacred trust between the two of us but it is more than that. Marriage plays a significant part in the health of our society and the future of our children. This is why I have fought so hard to preserve the traditional definition of marriage.

More than ever, I am respectful of those who paved the way for our American freedom. As a history buff, I have read stirring words from the founding fathers that have inspired me to work to maintain what they had first established. And as an African-American, I have received personal benefit from those who fought against slavery and later those who fought for my civil rights. These people may have had their flaws, but they are worthy of my respect.

If you only read the New York Times or the Washington Post, you might think that every evangelical Christian in the country is in favor of "comprehensive immigration reform." Major news outlets have reported extensively on so-called "pro-reform" evangelicals and their activities.

Ask a cancer patient about the need for affordable health care. The issue of healthcare quality is very personal to me. As a former cancer patient, I couldn't believe the out-of-pocket expenses that drastically affected my monthly budget! But affordable is only one aspect of the equation. Affordability should not produce poor quality. Yet it often does.

Abortion has been a shadowy and divisive topic for decades, but that is changing. Americans are becoming increasingly pro-life, and this shift in sentiment has led to the closure of a record number of abortion clinics this year.

In my new book, You Were Born for More, I give spiritual principles that will help any believer to have courage in an overwhelmingly negative environment and it will help them take a confident personal stand when persecution, mean-spiritedness and ridicule come their way. Why do we need these spiritual and emotional skills? Let me give you an example.

During the Great Depression, the government initiated a temporary program to help distribute surplus food and alleviate hardship. During the Kennedy administration the program restarted, expanding to be a permanent entity. This Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, as it has been traditional known, has attracted particular scrutiny recently.

Daniel Webster famously observed that, "The power to tax is the power to destroy." We often see arguments over taxes framed as conflicts between the compassionate and the miserly. If you care about the poor, we are told, you will support higher taxes to provide them with better services.

The Civil Rights Movement successfully repealed unjust laws with very little violence. And while things are far from perfect in America today, countless black Americans have risen to the heights of success in every way it can possibly be measured.

In April, Bloomberg released a list of the top twelve "boomtowns" in the United States. These were the metropolitan areas that had experienced the greatest growth in population according to US Census data, and the greatest growth in economic productivity as measured by Gross Domestic Product, adjusted for inflation.

So here's the million-dollar question: why are we still paying record prices for gas? Why haven't prices gone down as the law of supply and demand would suggest? There's rarely a simple answer to a complicated question, but the short answer is: corn.

Lost in the never-ending push to redefine marriage are those who suffer most when they are denied the benefit of a traditional marriage. Children need both a mother and a father far more than any adult needs societal approval of a romantic relationship.

My commentary today explores the dramatic difference in the value of human life (versus the value of animal life) in privileged versus impoverished communities in the same city - Philadelphia. I am concerned that Philadelphians seem more committed to protecting the lives of animals than they seem to be committed to saving the innocent lives of unborn children and their young mothers.

New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg has become an interesting urban social engineer. In 2012 alone, he pumped nearly 2.5 million dollars of his own money to help legalize same-sex marriage in the state of Maryland. Needless to say, he has become a formidable foe to traditional family values.

Obesity puts us at risk for all kinds of health problems, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. And it doesn't afflict everyone equally: nearly 50% of blacks are obese, and lower income Americans in general are more likely to be obese than others.

In 1965, Yale and Princeton raised their tuition, making them the most expensive Ivy League schools at the time. The hefty price tag; just $1950 a year. Even accounting for inflation that would only amount to about $14,350 in 2013 dollars.

From the early days of the Montgomery (Alabama) Improvement Association in which Dr. King became the first president in December 1955, to the March on Washington in August of 1963, the Civil Rights Movement went beyond giving blacks a chance to escape poverty. In an amazingly short time, employment, housing, and educational opportunities were abound. At the time of King's assassination, the black quest for economic equality seemed achievable. King's greater dream, however, of complete racial harmony remains quite elusive.

Last week, Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) lost his primary bid for Governor of Alabama in a crushing defeat. His opponent, Ron Sparks, won by 25 points in a contest that some believe shows that the race-based politics of the south have not changed.

The controversy over the Arizona border law has been unprecedented. Unfortunately, it seems that the real reason for the current outcry is a politically motivated attempt to change the tables in the 2010 and 2012 elections.